While ‘World War Z 2‘ is set to begin shooting this summer, it looks like the Brad Pitt tentpole has just lost its helmer Juan Antonio Bayona (‘The Impossible’,’The Orphanage’) due to timing issues. ‘World War Z’ is Brad Pitt’s highest grossing film no it shouldn’t be a 6surprise that Plan B and Paramount were getting the film in production as soon as possible though with such a setback you can tell they will be in a rush to find not just a top notch director but one who won’t bog things down in pre-production and push back shooting dates.
According to Paramount:
Bayona is no longer able to make World War Z 2 this year, and it is our ambition to do so. He is a wonderful director and we hope to work with him soon.
At the very least the parting seems to be amicable as the studio is making it clear that they would still like to Bayona in the future. With Dennis Kelly having just rewritten Steven Knight’s screenplay lets just hope whoever is tapped next doesn’t have any problems with the script which will require further changes.
With the studio still trying to have the movie done and ready for a June 9, 2017 release and Bayona not done with his latest film ‘A Monster Calls’, it just isn’t in the cards for him to get behind the camera in time.
Considering all of the reshoots that had to be done for the first film with the entire third act having been redone it really should come as no surprise that things are potentially off to a rocky start.
With a big budget and star power behind it the sequel should garner a lot of interest. Who do you think would be a good fit to tackle the director’s chair and make an action film with a taste of horror that will surpass the original? SHare your thoughts below!